Growing Greatness

We once said ‘cultivating greatness’ is an apt description of the internal process we go through to become great humans. We like the verb cultivate because “like growing a garden, there are some resources you can’t control like sun and temperature (the past and other people), some you can help along like improving soil (seek advice and counsel), and others that you are responsible for like how much water to give (practice, know your limitations).”

Some time later, we noted that there will come a time to harvest the greatness you cultivated. As we had compared cultivating greatness to tending one’s garden, harvesting greatness also has its comparisons to reaping one’s bounty. Be selective (met goals, completed plans). Pick from the excess (choose to use for its greatest advantage). Don’t uproot the plant (maintain your energy and enthusiasm).

Ah, now we’ve come to the root of the discussion. That magical time between the sowing and the reaping – the growing. Can we plan to grow greatness as easily as we grow flowers or vegetables in a backyard garden?

Like the seed, we have everything we need to grow within us. As the plant grows itself, with our cultivating help, so does our greatness grow, also with a little help from us.

As the seed must be viable when planted, so must be our goals, wants, and desires to achieve greatness. An unrealistic goal is an invitation for failure. In Try Easy we described the peril of promising to give more than 100% and the 3 things that are guaranteed to happen if you try. You will do poorly and fail, you will lie to yourself about how good you are, or you will not recognize how poor your performance is. We went on to say, “If you try to give 110% you will always end up at least 10% short. They set passing at 70% for a reason. Set realistic goals you can make and build on.”

The seed has one purpose and puts all its energy into doing what it is meant to do. Find your focus. It may be fashionable to seed your resume with words like multi-talented, adaptable, or well rounded, and there is nothing wrong with being those, except that you cannot be great at all of them. Find your thing and be that thing.

When it comes to focusing energy onto the one thing and doing that one thing flawlessly, the seed has an advantage over us. That is all it is meant to do. To achieve that level of expertise and productivity, we need help. We need practice. In Practice, Practice, Practice, we wrote how musicians, ball players, and airline pilots practice alone so they can perform their tasks flawlessly when the concert hall is packed, the plane is full, and the stadiums are standing room only. In Past Performance versus Present Desire, we wrote, “Thousands of little things every day are accomplished with little or no thought on your part because past successes have ingrained the manner and means to successfully accomplish them.” That’s the power of practice.

Finally, the seed sends out its roots. Finally, in terms of this discussion, but in practice, establishing its root system is the first thing a seed does. Strong roots are the plant’s foundation, and a strong foundation is most important in growing anything, especially in growing greatness. Just as in our lives, a seed’s life is not all roses, not even for roses. There will come a time a plant looks more dead than alive. Floppy stem. Drooping leaves. More brown than green. With some water and a little attention, we can resuscitate a failing plant. If the plant has strong roots.

Likewise, when we are failing, we can correct our course, revive our enthusiasm, and redirect our energy into new growth. With the solid foundation, goals that are realistic, sound plans, and a keen focus and vision, we can redirect our efforts again toward achievement, and with it, greatness.

Whatever we do, we want to be great at it. We work hard for our greatness. You worked hard for your greatness. You deserve to reap what you sow. You deserve to be great. To grow a great garden, there is more happening than just planting the seeds, cultivating the crops, then reaping the harvest. There are things going on we don’t see. Likewise growing our greatness is more than planting a mental seed and wishfully thinking ourselves into the best that we can be. But our growth we do see. We realize our greatness when we see ourselves being great.